THE 


PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN: 


OR, 


REASONS 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN. 


•:    Hfcstica. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

118  ARCH   STREET. 
1851. 


"  The  right  disposition  of  mincl  is,  that  which  desires 
earnestly  "The  Truth  !"  "  The  Truth  !"  in  whatever  man- 
ner it  may  come  to  us.  Not  that  the  manner  of  its  being 
conveyed  is  quite  indifferent;  far  from  it;  but  "The 
Truth,"  howsoever  it  come,  has  its  own  intrinsic — eternal 
value.  And  what  a  fool  I  am,  if  I  will  not  take  it,  and 
apply  it  to  its  use,  just  because  the  manner  of  its  coming 
to  me  has  not  pleased  me !"  Foster. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851,  by  the 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
and  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


STEREOTYPED   BY   GEORGE   CHARLES. 
PRINTED  BY   KING   4:   BAIRD. 


CONTENTS 


REASON  I. 
The  Episcopal  Church  retains  some  of  the  vital 
Roots  of  Romanism 6 

REASON  II. 
The  Episcopal  Church  has  abolished  the  Primi- 
tive Popular  Government 12 

REASON  III. 
The  Episcopal  Church  has  changed  the  Primi- 
tive Church  Officers '. 16 

REASON  IV. 
The  Episcopal  Church  unduly  exalts   the  Au- 
thority of  the  Fathers 28 

REASON   V. 
The  Episcopal  Church  makes  Unscriptural  Pre- 
tensions  40 

REASON  VI. 
The  Primitive  Church  is  now  in  existence  with 
Legitimate  Claims 44 


PREFACE. 


To  all  who  do  not  love  "a  Church"  better 
than  they  love  Christ — and  are  willing  to 
receive  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it — this  Tract 
is  inscribed.  As  an  apology  for  writing  it 
(a  work  but  little  congenial  to  his  feelings,) 
the  author  would  state  that,  besides  the  secta- 
rian book  styled  "  A  Walk  about  Zion,"  a 
pamphlet  designed  not  to  make  people  Chris- 
tians but  "  Episcopalians,"  has  been  circulated 
most  industriously  among  his  parishioners. 

Without  saying  any  thing  of  the  unkindness 
with  which  these  productions  assail  all  other  de- 
nominations, and  the  arrogance  which  puts  forth 
claims  that  are  a  speculation  on  the  ignorance 
of  readers,  I  shall  in  a  few  words  give  the  rea- 
sons why  I  am  not,  and  cannot  be  an  Episco- 
palian ;  much  as  I  love  and  revere  many  who 
belong  to  that  sect,  which  rather  invidiously 
seeks  to  monopolize  the  word  "  Church." 


THE 

PRIMITIVE  churchman: 

OR, 


REASONS  WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN 


It  is  of  most  solemn  importance  to  every 
man  what  Church  he  joins,  since  by  that  act  he 
throws  all  his  influence  in  favor  of  her  doctrines 
and  practices,  and  against  those  Churches  which 
differ  from  her.  For  this  step,  therefore,  we 
must  give  account  to  God.  And,  while  I  yield 
to  none  in  esteem  for  many  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  although  I  admire  the  beauty  of 
her  liturgies  as  I  do  of  other  fine  compositions, 
I  dare  not  unite  myself  with  that  Church,  and 
for  several  reasons : — 

5  1* 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  I. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  RETAINS  SOME  OF  THE 
VITAL    ROOTS  OF  ROMANISM. 

I  cannot  be  an  Episcopalian,  (and  if  there 
were  no  other  reasons  this  would  be  enough,) 
because  the  Episcopal  Church  has  brought  out 
with  her  from  the  Homan,  and  perpetuates 
practices  and  doctrines  repugnant  to  Scripture 
and  to  common  sense.  And,  in  proof  of  this,  I 
ask  the  reader  only  to  take  the  book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  turn  to  the  chapter  on  the 
Baptism  of  Infants,  and  decide  for  himself. 

1.  First,  see  this — "  There  shall  be  for  every 
male  child  to  be  baptized,  when  they  can  be  had, 
two  God-fathers  and  one  God-mother ;  and  for 
every  female,  one  God-father  and  two  God- 
mothers." Now,  is  there  a  pretence  of  reason 
or  Scripture  for  such  a  practice  ?  Is  it  not  an 
invention  of  man  ? 

2.  These  sponsors  are  often  unconverted  and 
wicked  people ;  but  I  do  not  dwell  on  this,  be- 
cause the  almost  incredible  part  of  the  whole 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AX   EPISCOPALIAN.  7 

affair  is,  that  the  Rubric  considers  the  questions 
as  actually  put  to  the  child,  and  answered  by 
the  child!  The  Minister  says  to  the  sponsor, 
"Wilt  thou  be  baptized  in  this  faith?"  The 
sponsor  replies,  "That  is  my  desire"  Hear- 
ing this,  you  conclude,  of  course,  that  he  is  the 
candidate,  and  "  desires,"  and  is  about  to  re- 
ceive, baptism.  In  this,  however,  you  only 
betray  your  simplicity.  The  man  who  says 
"that  is  my  desire,"  has  no  such  desire  at  all. 
It  was  the  infant  who  spoke,  and  the  Minister 
accordingly  pours  water,  not  on  the  sponsor, 
but  the  child !  In  the  Church  of  Rome,  Au- 
gustine gives  us  the  form  invented,  and  which, 
like  the  form  before  us,  was  a  pious  artifice  to 
meet  the  plain  requirement  of  the  Bible,  that 
repentance  and  faith  must  precede  baptism. 
The  Roman  formulary  was  thus  : — "  Doth  this 
child  believe  in  God  ?  Doth  he  turn  to  God  ?" 
The  framers  of  the  Prayer  Book  seem  to  have 
felt  that  this  was  too  glaring.  They  have 
therefore  introduced  a  strange  medley ;  at  first 
making  the  sponsor  renounce  for  the  child ; 
and  then  getting  back  into  the  Romish  fiction 
that  it  is  the  child  itself  that  answers.  I  quote 
the  whole. 


8  THE    PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

"Minister.  Dost  thou,  in  the  name  of  this 
child,  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works,  the 
vain  pomp  and  glory  of  the  world,  with  all 
covetous  desires  of  the  same,  and  the  sinful 
desires  of  the  flesh  ;  so  that  thou  wilt  not  fol- 
low, nor  be  led  by  them  ? 

Answer.  I  renounce  them  all ;  and  by 
God's  help,  will  endeavor  not  to  follow,  nor  be 
led  by  them.     (This  is  "  in  the  name  of  the 

CHILD.") 

Minister.  Dost  thou  believe  all  the  articles 
of  the  Christian  Faith,  as  contained  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed? 

Answer.  I  do.  (Is  this  uin  the  name  of 
the  child"  too? — i.  e.  "in  the  name  of  this 
child,  I  do  believe  P") 

Minister.  Wilt  thou  be  baptized  in  this 
Faith  ? 

Answer.  That  is  my  desire.  (Here  ive  have 
the  child  !) 

Minister.  Wilt  thou  then  obediently  keep 
God's  holy  will  and  commandments,  and  walk 
in  the  same  all  the  days  of  thy  life  ? 

Answer.  I  will,  by  God's  help."  ( Who  will?) 

3.    The  Episcopal   Church  does   teach   the 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  9 

dangerous  heresy  of  Baptismal  Regeneration.  I 
cheerfully  admit,  that  her  evangelical  Ministers 
reject  this  doctrine,  for  when  these  very  chil- 
dren, who  have  been  pronounced  "regenerated," 
grow  to  years  of  discretion,  they  are  e  ihorted 
as  to  the  necessity  of  regeneration ;  and,  in- 
deed, we  hear  them  spoken  of  as  being  then 
regenerated,  and  joining  the  Church.  But  this 
only  proves  that  such  Ministers  should  leave 
that  Church.  For  what  contradiction  !  A.  B., 
when  six  months  old,  is  pronounced  "  regene- 
rated by  the  Holy  Spirit,  made  God's  oivn  child 
by  adoption,  and  incorporated  into  God's  Holy 
Church  ;"  and  yet,  some  years  afterwards,  this 
very  child  is  told  he  must  be  regenerated  !  And 
the  Minister  very  gravely  tells  you,  when  A.  B. 
is  thirty  years  old,  that  he  is  regenerated  and 
has  joined  the  Church.  What !  regenerated 
twice  ?  And  what  Church  has  he  joined — for  he 
has  been  for  thirty  years  "  incorporated  into 
God's  Holy  Church?"  That  my  readers  may 
see  that  this  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  although  many  who  are  allured  there 
know  it  not  and  deny  it,  I  here  quote  her  own 
language,  which,  of  course,  all  her  members 
declare  to  be  their  creed  : — 


10  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

"  Seeing  now,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  that 
this  child  is  regenerate,  and  grafted  into  the 
body  of  Christ's  Church,  let  us  give  .thanks 
unto  Almighty  God  for  these  benefits,  and  with 
one  accord  make  our  prayers  unto  him,  that 
this  child  may  lead  the  rest  of  his  life  accord- 
ing to  this  beginning  ! ! 

"  We  yield  thee  hearty  thanks,  most  merciful 
Father,  that  it  hath  pleased  thee  to  regenerate 
this  infant  with  thy  Holy  Spirit,  to  receive  him 
for  thine  own  child  by  adoption,  and  to  incor- 
porate him  into  thy  Holy  Church.  And  humbly 
we  beseech  thee  to  grant,  that  he,  being  dead 
unto  sin  and  living  unto  righteousness,  and  be- 
ing  buried  with  Christ  in  his  death,  may  cru- 
cify the  old  man,  and  utterly  abolish  the  whole 
body  of  sin ;  and  that  as  he  is  made  partaker  of 
the  death  of  thy  Son,  he  may  also  be  partaker  of 
his  resurrection ;  so  that  finally,  with  the  residue 
of  thy  holy  Church,  he  may  be  an  inheritor  of 
thine  everlasting  kingdom,  through  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen." 

And  the  child  is  afterwards  confirmed  in  this 
doctrine,  and  made  (0  parents,  will  you  thus 
nourish  in  your  offspring  a  fatal  delusion  ?)  to 
repeat  it  in  the  Catechism. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT   AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  11 

"  Question.  What  is  your  name  ? 

Answer.  N.  or  M. 

Question.  Who  gave  you  this  name  ? 

Answer.  My  sponsors  in  baptism ;  wherein 
I  was  made  a  member  of  Christ,  the  child  of 
God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

Now  reader,  in  a  few  days  you  and  I  will 
stand  at  the  bar  of  God — that  God  who  says, 
"  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  I 
will  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  writ- 
ten in  this  book :  And  if  any  man  shall  take 
away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  pro- 
phecy, I  will  take  away  his  part  out  of  the 
book  of  life  ;"  (a) — and  I  ask,  will  you,  can  you 
lend  all  your  authority  to  these  doctrines  and 
practices,  and  against  the  Churches  which  are 
struggling  for  the  truths  of  the  Gospel.* 

(a)  Rev.  xxii:  18,  19. 
*  With  what  grace  can  EpiscomHfins  say,  that  Baptists 
make  too  much  of  Baptism  ?  ]fl  Hfy  Baptist  hold  doc- 
trines like  these  ?  Do  they  ncB(Kiuire  a  profession  of 
faith  and  repentance  before  Baptism  ?  And  are  they  not 
most  strict  in  rejecting  candidates  who  ascribe  to  water 
any  saving  virtue  ? 


12  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  II. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  HAS  ABOLISHED  THE 
PRIMITIVE  POPULAR  GOVERNMENT. 

I  cannot  be  an  Episcopalian,  because  the 
Episcopal  Church  has  entirely  abolished  the 
popular  form  of  government  instituted  by 
Christ  and  his  Apostles  and  introduced  one 
which  is  aristocratical.  This  subject  has  been 
placed  in  such  a  light  by  Neander,  and  Cole- 
man, and  Barnes,  in  their  late  works,  that  if 
a  candid  person  will  read  those  authors,  he 
must  esteem  this  second  reason  quite  as  strong 
as  the  first.  To  defend  their  Church  organiza- 
tion, Episcopal  writers  sometimes  pretend  that 
the  Church  in  England  was  founded  in  the  time 
of  the  Apostles,  and  even  that  Paul  was  the 
founder  !  To  those  acquainted  with  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  giving  the  history  of  Paul, 
this  last  claim  will  serve  as  a  sample  of  the 
rest.  Every  body  knows  that  the  Church 
of  England  commenced  in  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  VIII,  (A.  D.  1533,)  and  owed  its  origin 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  13 

to  the  worst  passions  of  a  Monarch  who  opposed 
the  Reformation,  and  wrote  against  it,  and 
only  left  the  Church  of  Rome  because  the  Pope 
righteously  refused  him  a  divorce.  Suppose, 
however,  the  Apostles  had  planted  Churches  in 
Great  Britain,  this  would  only  put  them  on  the 
same  footing  with  those  at  Rome  and  Corinth, 
&c,  and  it  is  certain  the  Churches  organized 
at  those  places  were  not  Episcopal ;  they  were 
independent  popular  assemblies,  vested  with 
rights  which  the  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  arrogate  to  themselves. 

1.  The  Apostolic  Churches  exercised,  them- 
selves, the  power  of  discipline — thus  securing 
to  each  member  the  right  of  trial  by  his  peers  ; 
and  even  inspired  Apostles  did  not  venture  to 
trench  upon  this  perogative.  The  language  of 
the  Saviour  is,  "  If  thy  brother  shall  trespass 
against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between 
thee  and  him  alone :  if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou 
hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not 
hear  thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more, 
that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses 
every  word  may  be  established.  And  if  he  shall 
neglect  to  hear  them,  tell  it  unto  the  Church  ; 
but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  Church,  let  him 

2 


14  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

be  unto  thee  as  an  heathen  man  and  a  publi- 
can." [a)  The  language  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
the  Churches,  is,  "  If  any  man  obey  not  our 
word  by  this  Epistle,  note  that  man,  and  have 
no  company  with  him  that  he  may  be  asham- 
ed."^) "Donotye"  (the  Church,)  "judge  them 
that  are  within  ?  (members  of  the  Church,)  there- 
fore put  away  from  among  yourselves  that  wicked 
person."  (<?)  "  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  when  ye  are  gathered  together,  and  my 
spirit,  with  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
to  deliver  such  an  one  unto  Satan  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus. "(d)  "  Suffici- 
ent to  such  a  man  is  this  punishment,  which  was 
inflicted  of  many,  (the  majority,)  so  that  contra- 
riwise ye  ought  rather  to  forgive  him,  and  com- 
fort him,  lest  perhaps  such  an  one  should  be 
swallowed  up  with  overmuch  sorrow."(e)  "  It  is 
manifest,"  as  Neander  remarks,  "that  the  rule 
is  here  set  forth,  requiring  the  action  of  the 
Church  in  all  such  concerns  of  general  inter- 
est." (/)     But  in  the  Episcopal   Church  the 

(a)  Matt,  xviii.  15-17.  (6)  2  Thess.  iii.  14.  (c)  1  Cor.  v. 
12,  13.  (d)  1  Cor.  v.  4,  5.  (e)  2  Cor.  ii.  6,  7.  (/)  Allgem. 
Gesch.,  1.  p.  292.  Comp.  p.  350.  Apost.  Kirch.,  1.  pp. 
319,  320. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  15 

whole  power  over  all  the  Churches  in  a  Diocese, 
is  usurped  by  one  man,  who  is  called  the  Bishop, 
and  is  sole  arbiter,  though  often  a  stranger. 
The  course  there  is,  "  tell  it  to  the  Bishop  /" 
and  he  decides  without  regard  to  the  Church. 

2.  The  entire  government  of  the  Apostolic 
Churches  was  popular.  The  members  of  each 
Church  enacted  all  their  rules,  and  managed 
all  their  affairs  by  suffrage.  "  With  them  re- 
sided the  power  of  enacting  laws,  as  also  of 
adopting  or  rejecting  whatever  might  be  pro- 
posed in  the  general  assemblies,  and  of  expell- 
ing and  again  receiving  into  communion,  any 
depraved  or  unworthy  members.  In  a  word, 
nothing  whatever,  of  any  moment,  could  be  de- 
termined on,  or  carried  into  effect,  without  their 
knowledge  and  concurrence."  (g)  And  this  is 
admitted  by  the  most  learned  Episcopalians,  as 
Riddle,  (h)  Bingham,  (i)  Whatly,  (j)  and 
others.  I  need  not  say  that  the  members  of 
Episcopal  Churches  are  entirely  deprived  of 
this  right  by  the  priesthood. 

(g)  Mosheim,  De  Rebus  Christ.,  Saec.  1,  \  45.  (h)  Chron. 
2nd  Cen.     (i)  B.  16.     (;)  Kingdom  of  Christ. 


16  THE  PREMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  III. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  HAS  CHANGED  THE 
PRIMITIVE  CHURCH  OFFICERS. 

I  am  not  an  Episcopalian,  because  the  Church, 
as  instituted  by  the  authority  of  the  Neiv  Tes- 
tament, had  only  two  classes  of  officers,  Pres- 
byters, {viz:  Elders,)  and  Deacons;  and  the 
third  class,  styled  in  England  Lord  Bishops, 
and  in  this  country  misnamed  Bishops,  is  the 
creation  of  spiritual  ambition,  and  condemned 
both  by  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  Bible. 

1.  With  reference  to  Presbyters  (named 
also  according  to  the  work  to  which  they 
devoted  themselves,  Pastors,  or  Teachers,  or 
Overseers)  I  will  only  call  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  the  fact,  admitted  by  Episcopalians, 
that  whenever  the  term  Bishop  occurs  in  the 
New  Testament,  it  describes  the  Presbyter,  and 
never,  in  one  instance,  has  the  meaning  which 
is  now  attached  to  it,  viz  :  Prelate.  Even  Dr. 
Onderdonk  says,  "  that  name  (bishop)  is  there, 
(i.  e.   in  the  New  Testament,)  given  to  the 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  17 

middle  order  or  Presbyters ;  and  all  that  we 
read  in  the  New  Testament  concerning  'Bishops' 
(including  of  course  the  words  'overseers,'  and 
oversight,'  which  have  the  same  derivation;)  is 
to  be  regarded  as  pertaining  to  that  middle 
grade.  It  was  after  the  Apostolic  age,  that  the 
name  '  Bishop '  was  taken  from  the  second 
order,  and  appropriated  to  the  first."  (k) 

2.  As  to  Deacons,  I  refer  the  reader  to  Acts 
vi.,  when  they  were  first  chosen,  their  election 
being  by  "the  multitude  of  disciples,"  and 
their  office  the  supervision  of  the  temporal  af- 
fairs of  the  Church.  In  1  Tim.  iii.,  the  Holy 
Ghost  gives  the  qualifications  necessary  for  the 
officers  of  the  Christian  Church,  viz :  of  Bishops, 
(i.  e.  pastors,)  and  Deacons,  and  while  the 
former  are  required  to  be  "apt  to  teach,"  no 
such  talent  is  demanded  of  the  latter.  We 
find,  too,  in  Rom.  xvi.  1,  that  women  (who  are 
forbidden  to  teach,  1  Tim.  ii.  12)  were  Dea- 
cons;  the  word  "  servant  of  the  Church"  be- 
ing "Diakonos,"  "Deacon."  All  this  is  vio- 
lated in  the  Episcopal  Church ;  the  Deacons 
are  not  chosen  by  the  disciples,  and  as  the 
Presbyters  in  their  ambition  became  Prelates, 
(*)  Ond.  Epis.,  p.  12. 


18  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

the  Deacons  moved  up  too,  and  became  an  in- 
ferior order  of  Presbyters. 

3.  The  great  assumption  of  Episcopacy,  how- 
ever, rests  on  the  order  of  Prelates  ;  and  here 
I  will  repeat  what  Episcopal  Churchmen  are 
compelled  to  admit,  and  what  Bishop  Onder- 
donk,  the  great  champion  of  his  order,  confes- 
ses, "  that  it  was  after  the  Apostolic  age  that 
the  name  6  Bishop*  was  taken  from  the  second 
order,  and  appropriated  to  the  first."  (I)  My 
reader  will  not  expect  me  to  do  more  than  in- 
dicate one  or  two  of  the  arguments  by  which 
this  innovation  of  Romanism,  still  persisted  in 
by  the  Episcopal  Church,  has  again  and  again 
been  overthrown. 

(1.)  In  the  first  place,  then,  we  see  Episco- 
palians confessing  that  they  have  perverted  the 
use  of  the  term  "Bishop!"  Now  why  this? 
Plainly,  because  the  Prelatical  office  has  no  ex- 
istence in  the  Bible,  or  else  it  would  have  had 
a  name.  We  are  sometimes  gravely  told  that 
Bishops  are  successors  of  the  Apostles.  Well 
why  not,  then,  call  them  Apostles  ?  Who  but 
perceives  that  such  a  title  would  at  once  have 
exposed  the  arrogance  of  the  thing,  and  that 
(l)  Ond.  Epis.  p.  12. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  19 

the  word  Bishop  has  been  purloined  only  for  a 
disguise,  in  which  spiritual  usurpation  may 
masquerade  and  elude  detection  ? 

(2.)  In  1  Tim.  iii.,  God  gives  the  perfect 
canon  of  Scripture,  as  to  the  qualification  of 
permanent  officers  for  the  Church,  and  there 
are  only  two,  viz :  Bishops  (i.  e.  Pastors,)  and 
Deacons.  There  is  not  an  intimation  of  this 
third  and  lordly  order.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
only  without  an  appellation  in  the  Bible,  but 
without  any  required  qualifications !  It  was 
neither  named  nor  contemplated  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

(3.)  Every  candid  reader  of  the  Bible  per- 
ceives that  the  Apostles  were  chosen  for  a  spe- 
cial and  temporary  purpose,  and  the  peculiarity 
of  their  office  is  expressly  specified.  They 
were  chosen :  1st,  to  be  with  Christ,  and  to  be 
endowed  with  miraculous  powers,  which  they 
also  conferred  on  others — "And  he  ordained 
twelve,  that  they  should  be  with  him,  and  that 
he  might  send  them  forth  to  preach,  and  to 
have  poiver  to  heal  sickness,  and  to  east  out 
devils.'\m)  2nd,  to  be  eye-witnesses  of  the  re- 
surrection— "Wherefore  of  these  men  which 

(m)  Mark  iii.  14,  15. 


20  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

have  companied  with  us  all  the  time  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  went  in  and  out  among  us,  begin- 
ning from  the  baptism  of  John,  unto  that  same 
day  that  he  was  taken  up  from  us,  must  one  be 
ordained  to  be  a  witness  with  us  of  his  resur- 
rection." "  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up, 
whereof  we  all  are  witnesses."  (n)  3rd,  to  be 
with  the  Saviour  after  his  resurrection — "  Him 
hath  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and  showed 
him  openly;  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto 
witnesses  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us, 
who  did  eat  and  drink  with  him  after  he  rose 
from  the  dead."  (o)  And  hence  Paul  rests  his 
title  to  Apostleship  on  this  very  fact — "  Am  I 
not  an  Apostle,  am  I  not  free,  have  I  not  seen 
the  Lord."  {p)  Will  it  be  pretended  that  Epis- 
copal Prelates  are  Apostles  after  this  ?  Their 
fear  of  taking  the  name  is  an  acknowledgement 
that  they  feel  the  claim  to  be  utterly  indefen- 
sible. Whately,  an  Archbishop,  (here  is  an- 
other rank  higher  than  Bishop  !)  frankly  de- 
clares that  "  Successors,  in  the  apostolic  office, 
the  Apostles  have  none.  As  witnesses  of  the 
resurrection — as  dispensers  of  miraculous  gifts 

(n)  Acts  i.   21,  22,   also  ii.   32.      (o)  Acts  x.  40,  41 
(p)  1  Cor.  is.  1. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  21 

— as  inspired  oracles  of  divine  revelation,  they 
have  no  successors.1  But  as  members — as  minis- 
ters— as  governors  of  Christian  communities, 
their  successors  are  the  regularly  admitted  mem- 
bers— the  lawfully  ordained  ministers — the  re- 
gular and  recognized  governors,  of  a  regularly 
subsisting  Christian  Church."  (q) 

(4.)  But  even  the  twelve  Apostles  never 
usurped  the  powers  now  arrogated  by  diocesan 
Bishops.  We  have  seen  already  that  the  right 
to  choose  officers  (and  even  an  Apostle,  Acts 
i.)  was  in  the  popular  body.  We  have  shown 
that  the  prerogatives  of  discipline  and  govern- 
ment were  also  in  the  body.  The  Apostles 
never  put  forward  the  proud  claims  of  Epis- 
copal Bishops,  as  to  these  matters ;  nor  as  to 
others. 

For  example :  did  Jesus  Christ  institute  any 
other  rites  than  Baptism  and  the  Supper? 
Whence  then  the  ordinance  of  confirmation  ? 
Both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  speak  of 
"  laying  on  of  hands."  "  Thus  Jacob  in  bless- 
ing the  sons  of  Joseph,  laid  his  hands  upon 
their  heads."  So,  Jesus  "took  young  children 
in  his  arms  and  blessed  them,  laying  his  hands 

(?)  Whately,  p.  235. 


22  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

upon  them."  And  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
dismissed,  to  go  on  their  missionary  tour, 
with  the  blessing  of  the  brethren  at  Antioch, 
"  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,"  (Acts  xiii.  3,) 
although  they  had  long  been  engaged  in  mini- 
sterial duties.  But  to  create  an  ordinance  out 
of  this  is  palpable  contrivance  to  give  import- 
ance to  the  Bishop.  Episcopalians  themselves 
differ  as  to  what  this  apochryphal  ceremony 
means.  If  it  be  only  a  mode  of  pronouncing  a 
benediction,  or  of  admitting  members  to  the 
church,  adopted  for  expediency,  no  notice  would 
be  required  of  it,  except  to  ask,  why  the  Pastor 
may  not  perform  the  office  ?  Episcopalians,  how- 
ever, maintain  that  there  is  Scriptural  authority, 
and  cite  Acts  viii.  14-17,  and  Acts  xix.  1-7. 
But  in  these  cases,  visible  miraculous  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  were  imparted ;  and  Bishops 
must  show  that  these  visible  miraculous  gifts 
are  now  imparted,  or  these  texts  prove  nothing. 
Nor  does  Heb.  vi.  1,  2,  furnish  evidence  of 
anything  except  the  imposition  of  hands  in 
some  cases,  which  no  one  denies,  and  which  is 
now  practised  in  all  Churches.  So,  too,  of 
superiority  over  other  Presbyters :  did  the 
Apostles  assert  it  ?     Just  the  reverse.     Their 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  23 

language  is  constantly  that  of  men  addressing 
equals;  (1  Pet.  v.  i.)  "Even  the  Apostles, 
though  next  to  Christ  himself,  invested  with 
the  highest  authority,  assumed  no  superiority 
over  the  Presbyters,  but  treated  them  as  bre- 
thren, and  styled  themselves  fellow-presbyters, 
thus  recognizing  them  as  associates  in  office,  "(r) 
And  so  again  as  to  ordination :  while  the 
Apostles,  as  Presbyters,  ordained,  they  allowed 
the  same  power  to  other  Presbyters.  Episcopa- 
lians deny  this  right  to  any  Presbyters  but  the 
unauthorized  order  of  Prelates ;  it  is,  therefore, 
their  duty  to  establish  by  positive  proof  this 
high-handed  exclusiveness.  The  truth,  how- 
ever, is,  that  if  Episcopal  ordination  be  valid 
at  all,  it  is  only  as  an  ordination  by  Presbyters. 
The  Bishop  is  only  a  Presbyter,  and  ordination 
in  the  New  Testament  was  by  a  Presbytery, 
viz  :  a  council  of  Presbyters,  and  of  this  1  Tim. 
iv.  14,  is  conclusive :  "  Neglect  not  the  gift 
that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  pro- 
phecy, with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
Presbytery."  This  is  exactly  the  account  of 
an  ordination  now  in  Presbyterian,  Congrega- 
tional, or  Baptist  Churches.    Episcopalians  say 

if)  Apostol.  Christengemeinen.     Halberstadt,  1819. 


24  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

the  Apostles  were  distinguished  from  the  Elders 
by  the  power  to  ordain,  and  yet  Jesus  never 
intimates  this  as  part  of  their  duties,  although 
he  gives  them  minute  directions ;  nor  when  the 
Seventy  were  sent  forth,  was  any  such  function 
assigned  them ;  nor  is  it  pretended  that  the 
Apostles  ever  declared  this  work  to  belong  to 
their  office.  In  cases,  in  fact,  of  some  most 
eminent  Preachers  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  it  is 
certain  the  Apostles  never  laid  hands  on  them 
at  all.  For  example,  who  ordained  Apollos? 
(Acts  xviii.  24-27.)  And  so,  too,  Paul  him- 
self, what  apostolic  ordination  had  he  ?  As 
soon  as  converted  he  began  to  " preach  Christ 
straightway"  (Acts  ix.  20)  "What,  then,  is 
Ordination  ?  The  answer  is,  a  decent  and  be- 
coming solemnity,  adopted  from  the  Jewish 
customs  by  the  primitive  Church,  significant  of 
the  separation  of  an  individual  to  some  specific 
appointment  in  the  Christian  Ministry,  and 
constituting  both  a  recognition  on  the  part  of 
the  officiating  Presbyters  of  the  Ministerial. 
character  of  the  person  appointed,  and  a  desir- 
able sanction  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Church. 
It  is,  however,  something  more  than  a  mere 
circumstance,   the  imposition  of  hands  being 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  20 

designed  to  express  that  fervent  benediction 
which  accompanied  the  ceremony,  and  which 
constitutes  the  true  spirit  of  the  rite.  To  an 
occasion  which,  when  the  awful  responsibility 
of  the  pastoral  charge  is  adequately  felt,  im- 
parts to  the  prayers  and  the  affectionate  aid  of 
those  who  are  fathers  and  brethren  in  the  Mi- 
nistry, a  more  special  value,  the  sign  and  sol- 
emn act  of  benediction  must  appear  peculiarly 
appropriate.  This  venerable  ceremony  may  also 
be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  bond  of  fellowship 
among  the  Churches  of  Christ,  a  sign  of  unity, 
and  an  act  of  brotherhood."  (s) 

(5.)  In  fine,  all  the  efforts  of  Episcopalians 
to  find  such  an  officer  as  their  Prelate,  in  the 
Bible,  are  as  fruitless  as  they  would  be  to  find 
archbishops,  cardinals,  and  popes.  Timothy 
was  an  evangelist  in  Ephesus,  and  Titus  in 
Crete,  just  as  now  we  have  missionaries  in  for- 
eign lands,  to  whom  instructions  are  sent  as  to 
their  course  of  action,  and  the  regulation  of 
Churches  of  native  converts.  To  say  they  were 
prelatical  Bishops,  is  not  only  to  affirm  the  very 
thing  which  ought  to  be  proved,  but  to  repeat 

(s)  Cond.  Prot.  Non.  Vol.  i.  p.  242. 


26  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

what  has  over  and  over  been  disproved,  (t) 
After  all  their  labor  and  research,  Episcopalians 
are  reduced  to  the  figment  that  the  '  Angels' 
addressed  in  the  letters  to  the  seven  Churches, 
must  have  been  Prelates.  But  I  cannot  sup- 
pose it  necessary  to  refute  this.  Where  is  the 
evidence?  "  How  much,"  says  Neander,  "must 
we  assume  as  already  proved,  which  yet  is  en- 
tirely without  evidence,  in  assigning  to  this 
early  period,  the  rise  of  such  a  monarchical 
system  of  government,  that  the  Bishop  alone 
can  be  put  in  the  place  of  the  whole  Church. 
In  this  phraseology  I  recognize  rather  a  sym- 
bolical application  of  the  idea  of  guardian  an- 
gels, similar  to  that  of  the  Ferver  of  the  Per- 
sees,  as  a  symbolical  representation  and  image 
of  the  whole  Church.  Such  a  figurative  repre- 
sentation corresponds  well  with  the  poetical  and 
symbolical  character  of  the  book  throughout. 
It  is  also  expressly  said  that  the  address  is  to 
the  whole  body  of  the  Churches. "(u)  And  Stil- 
lingfleet,  than  whom  an  abler  man,  and  one  whose 
praise  is  higher  in  Episcopal  Churches,  is  not  to 
be  found  among  the  advocates  of  prelacy,  says 

(t)  See  Coleman  and  Barnes,  passim,   (u)  Introduction  to 
Coleman. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  27 

of  these  Angels  :  "If  many  things  in  the  epis- 
tles be  directed  to  the  angels,  but  yet  so  as  to 
concern  the  whole  body,  then,  of  necessity, 
the  angel  must  be  taken  as  the  representative 
of  the  whole  body;  and  then,  why  may  not 
the  word  angel  be  taken  by  way  of  representa- 
tion of  the  body  itself,  either  of  the  whole 
Church,  or,  which  is  far  more  probable,  of  the 
consessors,  or  order  of  Presbyters,  in  that 
Church?  We  see  what  miserable,  unaccount- 
able arguments  those  are,  which  are  brought 
for  any  kind  of  government,  from  metaphorical 
or  ambiguous  expressions,  or  names  promiscu- 
ously used."  (y)  My  reader  will  judge  from 
this,  what  confidence  to  put  in  the  bold,  unscru- 
pulous, unblushing  statements  hazarded  on 
this  point  by  the  writer  of  the  "  Reasons  for 
being  an  Episcopalian." 

(y)  Irenicum. 


28  THE  PEIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  IV. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  UNDULY  EXALTS   THE 
AUTHORITY  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

To  support  errors  clearly  condemned  by  the 
Bible,  it  is  customary  with  different  denomina- 
tions to  cite  the  early  'Fathers,'  as  they  are 
called.  If  the  reader  will  peruse  Taylor's 
'Ancient  Christianity,'  written  by  an  Episco- 
palian, he  will  be  astonished  at  the  respect 
hitherto  paid  to  patristic  authority.  And  if  he 
have  time  to  consult  those  '  Fathers '  himself, 
he  will  find  that  there  is  scarcely  an  absurdity 
but  may  be  defended  by  passages  from  them. 
On  this  subject  there  is  an  admirable  article  in 
the  Edinburg  Review  for  April,  1843.  "We 
are  convinced,  (says  the  Review,)  that  nothing 
more  is  needed  than  the  indiscriminate  exposure 
of  an  impartial  sample  of  the  works  of  these 
unparalleled  writers  to  the  popular  gaze,  to  ob- 
literate that  feeling  of  traditional  reverence 
with  which  they  are  regarded.  The  drunken 
Helots    never    taught   the    Spartans   a  more 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  29 

wholesome  lesson  of  temperance,  than  the  in- 
imitable antics  of  these  holy  men  would  teach 
the  present  age,  of  the  folly  of  deferring  to 
them,  as  our  spiritual  guides ;  and  still  more 
of  investing  them,  under  any  conditions,  with 
the  authority  of  Scripture."  Even  when  John 
wrote  the  Revelation  there  were  many  corrup- 
tions to  censure,  as  we  find  in  the  letters  to  the 
Churches  in  Asia  ;  nay,  in  Paul's  Epistles, 
mention  is  made  of  those  who  were  seeking  to 
advance  their  ambitious  views  by  innovations 
in  the  Churches  he  had  founded.  It  would, 
therefore,  be  no  matter  of  surprise,  if  spiritual 
usurpations  had  begun  in  the  very  first  century. 
But  in  truth,  the  Episcopal  clergy  cannot 
obtain  support  for  their  encroachments,  even 
from  the  early  Fathers.  The  great  bulwark  of 
Episcopalians  is  Ignatius,  as  to  whose  Epistles, 
it  is  enough  to  remark,  that  they  are  pro- 
nounced by  some  most  learned  men,  to  be  the 
fabrications  of  a  later  age  ;  and  incontestibly, 
they  have  been  so  interpolated  as  to  be  un- 
worthy of  any  confidence.  My  readers  know 
the  weight  of  Milton's  name  on  such  a  question, 
and  hear  what  he  says,  after  exposing  the  ana- 
chronisms   and   contradictions    of  the  work  : 


30  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

"  These,  and  other  like  passages,  in  abundance 
through  all  those  short  epistles,  must  either  be 
adulterate,  or  else  Ignatius  was  not  Ignatius, 
nor  a  martyr,  but  most  adulterate  and  corrupt 
himself.  In  the  midst,  therefore,  of  so  many 
forgeries,  where  shall  we  fix,  to  dare  say  this  is 
Ignatius  ?  As  for  his  style,  who  knows  it,  so 
disfigured  and  interrupted  as  it  is,  except  they 
they  think  that  where  they  meet  with  anything 
sound  and  orthodoxal,  there  they  find  Ignatius? 
And  then  they  believe  him,  not  for  his  own 
authority,  but  for  a  truth's  sake,  which  they 
derive  from  elsewhere.  To  what  end,  then, 
should  they  cite  him  as  authentic  for  Epis- 
copacy, when  they  cannot  know  what  is  au- 
thentic in  him,  but  by  the  judgment  which  they 
brought  with  them,  and  not  by  any  judgment 
which  they  might  safely  learn  from  him  ?  How 
can  they  bring  satisfaction  from  such  an  au- 
thor, to  whose  very  essence  the  reader  must 
be  fain  to  contribute  his  own  understanding  ? 
Had  God  ever  intended  that  we  should  have 
sought  any  part  of  useful  instructions  from 
Ignatius,  doubtless  he  would  not  have  so  ill  pro- 
vided for  our  knowledge,  as  to  send  him  to  our 
hands  in  this  broken  and  disjointed  plight ;  and 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AX  EPISCOPALIAN.  31 

if  he  intended  no  such  thing,  we  do  injuriously, 
in  thinking  to  taste  better  the  pure  evangelic 
manna,  by  seasoning  our  mouth  with  the  tainted 
scraps  and  fragments  of  an  unknown  table ; 
and  searching  among  the  verminous  and  pol- 
luted rags,  dropped  overworn  from  the  toiling 
shoulders  of  Time ;  with  these  deformedly  to 
quilt  and  interlace  the  entire,  the  spotless  and 
undecaying  robe  of  Truth,  the  daughter,  not 
of  Time,  but  of  Heaven,  only  bred  up  here 
below  in  Christian  hearts  between  two  grave 
and  holy  nurses,  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of 
the  gospel."  (iv) 

Even,  however,  if  these  Epistles  of  Ignatius 
were  genuine,  they  would  not  sustain  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Let  the  reader 
bear  in  mind  the  concessions  given  before,  that 
the  word  '  Bishop '  was  at  first  never  used  to 
signify  anything  but  a  Pastor,  and  he  will  find 
the  vaunted  passages  from  Ignatius  not  at  all 
implying  any  superiority  of  Bishops  over  Pres- 
byters. Ignatius'  Bishops  were  plainly  Pastors 
of  only  one  Church,  and  not  lords  over  many ; 
and  there  are  now  hundreds  of  Independent 
and  Baptist  Churches,  to  which  a  letter  would 

(w)  Milton's  Prel.  Epis.  P.  W.  vol.  1,  pp.  79-80. 


32  THE   PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

speak  of  the  "  Bishop  "  (or  Pastor)  and  "  Pres- 
byters" (Ministers  who  are  members,  and,  per- 
haps, assist  the  Pastor,)  and  "Deacons."  If 
Ignatius'  Epistles  were  not  written  in  or  near 
the  first  century,  they  are  forgeries  ;•  if  they 
were,  they  do  not  prove  diocesan  Episcopacy; 
for  the  word  "Bishop"  then  meant  only  the 
overseer  of  a  Church,  as  is  admitted  by  the 
Prelatists  themselves.  Dr.  Burton,  regius  Pro- 
fessor at  Oxford,  speaking  of  the  beginning  of 
the  third  century,  says,  "  The  term  diocese,  as 
has  been  observed  in  a  former  chapter,  was  of 
later  introduction,  and  was  borrowed  by  the 
Church  from  the  civil  constitution  of  the  em- 
pire. At  the  period  which  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, a  Bishop's  diocese  was  more  analogous 
to  a  modern  parish,  and  such  was  the  name 
which  it  bore.  Each  parish  had,  therefore,  its 
own  Bishop,  with  a  varying  number  of  Pres- 
byters, or  Priests  and  Deacons."  (x)  So  Lord 
Chancellor  King — "  As  for  the  word  diocese, 
by  which  the  Bishop's  flock  is  now  expressed, 
I  do  not  remember  that  ever  I  found  it  used  in 
this  sense  by  any  of  the  ancients.  But  there 
is  another  word  still  retained  by  us,  by  which 

(x)  Hist.  Christ  Ch.  p.  179. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AX  EPISCOPALIAN.  66 

they  frequently  denominated  the  Bishop's  cure  ; 
and  that  is  parish."  (y)  "Every  Bishop  had 
but  one  congregation  or  Church.  This  is  a 
remark  which  deserves  your  particular  notice ; 
as  it  regards  an  essential  point  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  primitive  Church,  a  point  which 
is  generally  admitted  by  those  who  can  make 
any  pretensions  to  the  knowledge  of  Christian 
antiquities.  Now  as  one  Bishop  is  invariably 
considered  in  the  most  ancient  usage  as  having 
only  one  UkJclesia,  (Church,)  it  is  manifest  that 
his  inspection  at  first,  was  only  one  parish."  (z) 
"  Instead,  therefore,  of  presiding  over  myriads 
of  his  fellow-men  with  authority,  which  even 
princes  might  envy,  this  your  ancient  Bishop 
was  nothing  more  than  an  humble  parish  mi- 
nister, having  the  charge  of  some  little  flock 
over  whom  he  had  been  duly  appointed  an  over- 
seer in  the  service  of  the  Chief  Shepherd."(«). 
If  the  reader  will  consult  Coleman's  masterly 
treatise  he  will  find  this  matter  forever  settled, 
and  he  will  see,  too,  that  the  only  works  of  re- 
mote antiquity  known  to  be  genuine,  disprove 
the   claims   of  Episcopal  Prelates.      In  fact; 

(?/)  King's  Prim.  Ch.,  p.  15.     (z)  Camp.  Lect.,  p.  105. 
(a)  Coleman,  p.  203. 


34  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

even  as  late  as  the  fifth  century,  we  find  Jerome, 
■who  is  admitted  by  Episcopalians  to  have  been 
the  most  learned  man  of  his  age,  attacking 
these  haughty  usurpations.  He  says  "A 
Presbyter,  therefore,  is  the  same  as  a  Bishop : 
and  before  there  were,  by  the  instigation  of 
the  devil,  parties  in  religion,  and  it  was  said 
among  different  people,  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  of 
Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  the  Churches  were 
governed  by  the  joint  counsel  of  the  Presbyters. 
But  afterwards,  when  every  one  accounted  those 
whom  he  baptized  as  belonging  to  himself  and 
not  to  Christ,  it  was  decreed  throughout  the 
whole  world  that  one,  chosen  from  among  the 
Presbyters,  should  be  put  over  the  rest,  and 
that  the  whole  care  of  the  Church  should  be 
committed  to  him,  and  the  seeds  of  schism 
taken  away.  Should  any  one  think  that  this 
is  only  my  own  private  opinion,  and  not  the 
doctrine  of  the  Scriptures,  let  him  read  the 
words  of  the  Apostle  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Phi- 
lippians :  "  Paul  and  Timotheus,  the  servants 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  all  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus, 
which  are  at  Philippi,  with  the  Bishops  and  Dea- 
cons,"&c.  Philippi  is  a  single  city  of  Macedonia; 
and  certainly  in  one  city  there  could  not  be 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  35 

several  Bishops  as  they  are  now  styled  ;  but  as 
they,  at  that  time,  called  the  very  same  per- 
sons Bishops  whom  they  called  Presbyters,  the 
Apostle  has  spoken  without  distinction  of  Bi- 
shops as  Presbyters.  Should  this  matter  yet 
appear  doubtful  to  any  one,  unless  it  be  proved 
by  an  additional  testimony,  it  is  written  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  when  Paul  had  come 
to  Miletus,  he  sent  to  Ephesus  and  called  the 
Presbyters  of  that  Church,  and  among  other 
things  said  to  them,  *  Take  heed  to  yourselves 
and  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
hath  made  you  Bishops.'  Take  particular 
notice,  that  calling  the  Presbyters  of  the  single 
city  of  Ephesus,  he  afterwards  names  the  same 
persons  Bishops."  (b) 

It  is  thus  certain  that  all  the  passages  quoted 
from  Eusebius  and  others,  have  nothing  to  do 
with  Prelates,  the  word  Bishop  meaning  Pastor 
of  a  Church,  and  there  being  no  such  officer 
then  as  the  modern  Prelate. 

And  here  I  might  stop.  There  is  however 
such  ignorance  or  disingenuousness,  in  the  Tract 
called  "Reasons  why  I  am  an  Episcopalian," 
that  I  must  add  a  word  more. 

(b)  Hieronymi  Com.  in  Tit.  i.  1. 


36  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

This  writer  adduces  Irenceus,  (A.  D.  180,) 
but  either  does  not  see,  or  by  a  play  on  words 
wishes  to  conceal  from  his  readers  the  fact, 
that  the  very  quotations  show  a  Bishop  to  have 
been  a  Pastor  over  one  Church.  "  Poly  carp  was 
Bishop  over  the  Church  in  Smyrna,"  &c.  Here 
the  most  illustrious  man  of  his  time  is  only 
Bishop  of  one  Church ;  and  I  now  add  that 
Irenasus  expressly  styles  Polycarp,  afterwards, 
"  that  blessed  Presbyter."  (<?)  Again,  the  Tract 
writer  cites  this  passage,  "  We  can  enumerate 
those  who  were  constituted  by  the  Apostles, 
Bishops  in  the  Churches  ;  their  successors,  also, 
even  down  to  our  time."  But  just  before 
Irenseus  styles  these  very  Bishops,  "Pres- 
byters." (d)  I  have  before  me  other  quotations 
from  Irenseus,  but  cannot  suppose  them  neces- 
sary. The  author  of  the  Tract,  next  brings 
forward  Tertullian,  (A.  D.  200,)  and  the  reader 
will  discover,  at  a  glance,  that  he  hopes  to  suc- 
ceed by  the  usual  jugglery,  with  the  word 
Bishop,  for  the  quotations  recognize  only  the' 
Bishop  or  Pastor  of  a  Church.  The  Prelatical 
usurpation  was  clearly  unknown  even  then ;  for 

(c)  Euseb.,  Eccl.  Hist.,  Lib.  5,  c.  20.    (d)  Irengeus,  Adv. 
Haer.,  L.  3,  c.  2. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  37 

take  the  strongest  passage,  viz  :  "  Neither  Pres- 
byters, nor  Deacons,  might  baptize  without  the 
Bishop's  consent."  Now,  does  this  apply  to 
Prelacy  ?  Is  it  so  that  the  Presbyters  do  not 
baptize  without  in  each  case  obtaining  the  Pre- 
late's consent?  The  passage  plainly  teaches, 
only  what  is  now  true  in  non-Episcopal  Churches 
i.  e.,  that  the  Pastor  is  the  person  to  baptize, 
and  others  should  not  baptize  candidates  for 
admission  into  his  Church  without  his  consent. 
Tertullian  stood  "  on  the  boundary  between  two 
different  epochs,"  and  in  his  writings  we  see 
the  beginning  of  the  Prelatical  encroachments. 
He  expressly  tells  us  that  one  of  the  Presbyters 
was  chosen  President,  and  shows  the  origin  of 
the  order  which  now  claims  supremacy  over 
other  Presbyters  and  over  hundreds  of  Churches, 
as  if  by  warrant  from  God.  This  Presidency 
soon  became  a  permanent  office,  and  then  the 
word  Bishop  was  misapplied  to  cover  it  with  a 
color  of  Scriptural  authority. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  (A.  D.  220,)  is  our 
Tractarian's  next  authority.  The  reader  will 
notice  that  he  speaks  of  the  Pastor,  or  Bishop 
of  a  Church,  distinguishing  him  from  a  Pres- 
byter, not  as  superior,  but  simply,  as  having 

4 


38  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

charge  of  a  Church,  and  he  shows  fully  else- 
where, that  there  were  but  two  orders.  He 
says  expressly,  "Just  so  in  the  Church,  the 
Presbyters  are  entrusted  with  the  dignified 
Ministry ;  the  Deacons  with  the  subordinate."(e) 

He  speaks,  too,  of  the  Presbyter  chosen  by 
the  Presbytery  to  be  the  President.  Soon  after 
this,  the  title  President  was  dropped  and  the 
word  Bishop  surreptitiously  appropriated.  The 
admitted  import  of  the  term  Bishop  need  only 
be  recollected,  and  the  other  passages  cited  in 
the  so  called  Churchman's  Tract,  will  demand 
no  further  comment  from  me.  When  we  come 
to  the  fourth  century,  the  Episcopal  usurpations 
are  established ;  but  we  find  also  most  of  the 
other  corruptions  of  Romanism. 

Had  I  time,  I  would  gladly  cite  authors, 
whom  Episcopalians  carefully  avoid.  For  ex- 
ample, Clement  of  Rome,  is  the  first  and  most 
authentic  of  all  the  early  Fathers.  He  wrote, 
A.  D.  96,  and  he  is  express.  He  shows  clearly 
that  there  were  but  two  orders  of  officers.  He. 
says,  "  The  Apostles  preaching  in  countries 
and  cities,  appointed  the  first  fruits  of  their 
labors,  to  be  Bishops  and  Deacons,  having 
(e)  Strom.  Lib.,  7.  p.  700. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  39 

proved  them  by  the  Spirit."  (/)  "  Clement 
himself,"  says  Riddle,  an  Episcopalian,  "was 
not  even  aware  of  the  distinction  between 
Bishops  and  Presbyters ;  terms  which  in  fact 
he  uses  as  synonymous."  (g) 

(/)  Epist.  ad  Cor.  g  42,  p.  57.     (g)  Christ  Antiq.,  p.  5. 


40  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  V. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  MAKES  UNSCRIPTURAL 
PRETENSIONS. 

It  was  the  complaint  of  a  distinguished 
writer,  that  "  people  do  not  know  when  a  thing 
is  proved ;"  but  if  mj  reader  be  candid,  he  will 
confess  that  I  have  established  several  things. 
1.  I  have  shown  that  the  Episcopal  Church  has 
brought  out  from  Rome,  and  perpetuates,  doc- 
trines and  practices  repugnant  to  Scripture  and 
reason.  2.  I  have  proved  that  the  Episcopal 
Church  has  subverted  the  form  of  government 
established  by  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Apostles. 
3.  It  is  clear  that  she  has  erected  a  new  and 
unscriptural  order  in  the  Ministry. 

And  now,  if  this  be  so,  for  me  to  be  an  Epis- 
copalian, would  be  to  lend  my  influence  and 
contributions  to  support  these  abuses,  and  not 
only  these  but  others  growing  out  of  them. 

1.  It  would  be  to  support  those  pretensions 
about  Ordination,  which  are  designed  to  magnify 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  41 

the  Prelates.  Clarkson,  himself  an  Episcopa 
lian,  says,  "A  Bishop,  in  the  best  ages  of 
Christianity,  was  no  other  than  the  Pastor  of 
a  single  Church.  A  Pastor  of  a  single  congre- 
gation is  now  as  truly  a  Bishop.  They  were 
duly  ordained  in  those  ages,  who  were  set  apart 
for  the  work  of  the  Ministry  by  the  Pastor  of 
a  single  Church,  with  the  concurrence  of  some 
assistants.  Why  they  should  not  be  esteemed 
to  be  duly  ordained,  who  are  accordingly  set 
apart  by  a  Pastor  of  a  single  Church  now,  I 
can  discern  no  reason,  after  I  have  looked  every 
way  for  it.  Let  something  be  assigned  which 
will  make  an  essential  difference  herein ;  other- 
wise they  that  judge  such  Ordinations  here,  and 
in  other  Reformed  Churches,  to  be  nullities,  will 
hereby  declare  all  the  ordinations  in  the  ancient 
Church  for  three  or  four  hundred  years,  to  be 
null  and  void,  and  must  own  the  dismal  conse- 
quences that  ensue  therefrom.  They  that  will 
have  no  ordinations  but  such  as  are  performed 
by  one  who  has  many  Churches  under  him, 
maintain  a  novelty  never  known  nor  dreamt  of 
in  the  ancient  Churches,  while  their  state  was 
tolerable.  They  may  as  well  say  the  ancient 
Church  had  never  a  Bishop,  (if  their  interest 

4 


42  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

did  not  hinder — all  the  reason  they  make  use 
of  in  this  case  would  lead  them  to  it,)  as  deny 
that  a  reformed  Pastor  has  power  to  ordain, 
because  he  is  not  a  Bishop.  He  has  Episcopal 
ordination,  even  such  as  the  canons  require, 
being  set  apart  by  two  or  three  Pastors  at 
least,  who  are  as  truly  diocesans  as  the  ancient 
Bishops,  for  some  whole  ages.  "(A) 

2.  And  it  would  be  to  sustain  the  absurdity 
of  Apostolical  Succession ;  a  theory  which  has 
been  exposed  frequently,  and  like  Baptismal 
Regeneration,  is  with  singular  inconsistency 
renounced  by  many  eminent  Episcopalians,  who 
yet  act  on  the  principle  by  excluding  Ministers 
of  other  denominations  from  their  pulpits,  (i) 
A  theory  which  is  such  a  palpable  fiction  of 
Romanism  that  it  would  seem  impossible  for  any 
candid  Protestant  to  treat  it  with  respect.  "  A 
theory,"  says  Macaulay,  which  is  this,  "that 
each  Bishop,  from  the  apostolic  times,  has  re- 
ceived in  his  consecration  a  mysterious  '  gift,' 
and  also  transmits  to  every  Priest  in  his  ordina- 
tion a  mysterious  'gift,'  indicated  in  the  re- 
spective offices,  by  the  awful  words,  *  Receive 

(h)  Prim.  Episc,  p.  183.  (?)  See  Whately's  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  pp.  182-188. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  43 

the  Holy  Ghost;'  that  on  this  the  right  of 
Priests  to  assume  their  function,  and  the  pre- 
ternatural grace  of  the  sacraments  administered 
by  them,  depends  ;  that  Bishops,  once  conse- 
crated, instantly  become  a  sort  of  Ley  den  jar 
of  spiritual  electricity,  and  are  invested  with 
the  remarkable  property  of  transmitting  the 
1  gift '  to  others ;  that  this  has  been  the  case 
from  the  primitive  age  till  now ;  that  this  high 
gift  has  been  incorruptibly  transmitted  through 
the  hands  of  impure,  profligate,  heretical  eccle- 
siastics, as  ignorant  and  flagitious  as  any  of 
their  lay  contemporaries ;  that,  in  fact,  these 
'  gifts  '  are  perfectly  irrespective  of  the  moral 
character  and  qualifications  both  of  Bishop  and 
Priest,  and  reside  in  equal  integrity  in  a  Bonner 
or  in  a  Cranmer ;  a  parson  Adams  or  a  parson 
Trulliber."  (j) 

(J)  Edin.  Rev.  Apr.  1843. 


44  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 


REASON  VI. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH  IS  NOW  IN  EXISTENCE 
WITH  LEGITIMATE  CLAIMS. 

There  are  other  and  minor  reasons  why  I 
cannot  be  an  Episcopalian  ;  as  for  instance,  the 
Romish  observance  of  clays,  the  formalities  of 
worship,  Priestly  and  Episcopal  vestments, 
Rochets,  Gowns  and  Surplices,  and  their  chang- 
es, so  unlike  the  simplicity  of  apostolic  customs, 
the  appellation  "  Priest  n  applied  to  Pastors, 
an  abuse  condemned  by  the  New  Testament, 
in  which  Christ  is  the  only  Priest,  and  which 
betrays  its  Romish  origin  by  squinting  hardly 
at  the  impieties  of  the  mass. 

These  are  with  me,  however,  inferior  matters, 
I  therefore  do  not  insist  on  them,  but  at  once 
give  my  last  reason  why  I  am  not  an  Episcopa- 
lian, which  is,  that  I  find  the  church  or- 
ganized BY  THE  APOSTLES  NOW  EXISTING,  AND 
I  HOLD  IT  MY  BOUNDEN  DUTY  TO  SUSTAIN  IT. 

1.  The  apostolic  Churches  consisted  of  bap- 
tized believers.     "  Then  they  that  gladly  re- 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN   EPISCOPALIAN.  45 

ceived  his  word  were  baptized :  and  the  same 
day  there  were  added  \into  them  about  three 
thousand  souls."  (k)  This  is  said  to  be  "ad- 
ding to  the  Church," — "  And  the  Lord  added 
to  the  Church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved."(7) 
"  And  believers  were  the  more  added  to  the 
Lord,  multitudes  both  of  men  and  women  ;"(*») 
"  But  when  they  believed  Philip,  preaching  the 
things  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  were  baptized 
both  men  and  women."  (n) 

I  do  not  here  design  to  enter  into  the  bap- 
tismal controversy.  God  certainly  cannot  have 
given  a  command  which  is  difficult  to  com- 
prehend ;  and,  though  volumes  have  been  writ- 
ten and  thus  embarrassed  the  Scriptures,  if  my 
reader  will  consult  the  New  Testament,  he  will, 
I  conceive,  agree  with  the  author  of  Lacon, 
that  "  were  a  plain  man  to  read  the  four  Gos- 
pels and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  without  note 
or  comment,  it  would  never  enter  into  his  heart 
to  conceive  the  purport  of  many  ideas  signified 
by  words  ending  in  ism,  which  nevertheless 
have  cost  Christendom  rivers  of  ink  and  oceans 

(k)  Acts  ii.  41.  (I)  Acts  ii.  47.  (m)  Acts  v.  14.  (n) 
Acts  viii.  12. 


46  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

of   blood."      I  shall    only  submit    a  thought 
or  two. 

1.  Does  not  the  very  commission  shut  out 
the  idea  of  infant  baptism  ?  "  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture, he  that  belie veth  and  is  baptized,"  &c. 
Now  let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  this  is  the 
only  authority  under  which  any  one  can  bap- 
tize, and  I  inquire  candidly,  Does  this  authorize 
the  baptism  of  any  but  believers  ?  Open  any 
Pedobaptist  work  addressed  to  parents,  and 
how  certainly  do  you  find  them  exhorted  "  to 
bring  their  children  to  the  font "  with  a  great 
deal  about  "covenant  mercies,"  &c.  Is  it  (I 
do  not  say  probable,  but)  possible  that  in  the 
Bible  designed  for  all  ages  and  for  Pagans  as 
well  as  Jews,  there  should  be  such  minute  ad- 
dresses as  to  the  duty  of  parents  to  their  chil- 
dren, and  yet  not  one  word,  not  one  instance, 
supporting  infant  baptism  ?  The  only  plausible 
argument  I  ever  saw  for  the  practice  is  from 
the  Abrahamic  covenant  of  Circumcision ;  but,- 
2.  Is  it  not  an  ample  refutation  of  this  plea, 
that  the  Abrahamic  rite  was  restricted  to  one 
sex,  and  extended  to  all  servants  bought  by  a 
Jew  without  reference  to  age  or  character  ? 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AX  EPISCOPALIAN  47 

Would  any  one  now  so  restrict  baptism  ?  Would 
any  one  so  extend  it,  and  baptize  the  slaves 
bought  by  a  master  simply  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  his  servants,  and  although  they  were 
notoriously  wicked  ?  If  not,  then  the  Jewish 
Congregation  into  which  persons  were  admitted 
by  circumcision,  was  not  a  body  like  the  Chris- 
tian Church  into  which  baptism  initiates. 

(3.)Moreover,  even  if  the  argument  from  the 
Abrahamic  covenant  of  Circumcision  holds,  still 
children  ought  to  be  circumcised,  not  baptized. 
Baptism  has  not  come  in  the  room  of  circum- 
cision. Both  are  positive  institutions  ;  and  the 
substitution  of  one  for  the  other  requires, 
therefore,  a  positive  order.  But,  what  is  de- 
monstratively conclusive  here,  is,  that  the  Jew- 
ish converts  continued  in  the  Apostles'  days  to 
circumcise  their  children.  This  rite  belonged 
to  them  as  Jews,  and  they,  therefore,  did  not 
discontinue  it.  In  Acts  ch.  xxi.  21,  we  find 
that  when  Paul  came  to  Rome,  the  Jewish 
converts  alleged  as  a  criminal  charge  against 
him,  that  he  had  taught  the  Jews  who  were 
among  the  Gentiles,  "not  to  circumcise  their 
children."  Now  could  this  charge  have  been 
made,  if  circumcision  had  been  supplanted  by 


48  THE    PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

baptism  ?  And  would  not  Paul  at  once  have 
said,  "Yes,  I  have  so  taught,  because  baptism 
is  come  in  the  place  of  circumcision  ?"  Instead 
of  this,  he  plainly  treats  the  charge  as  a  slander, 
and  takes  measures  to  refute  it.  "  And  when 
they  heard  it,  they  glorified  the  Lord;  and 
said  unto  him,  Thou  seest,  brother,  how  many 
thousands  of  Jews  there  are  which  believe ; 
and  they  are  all  zealous  of  the  law:  And  they 
are  informed  of  thee,  that  thou  teachest  all 
the  Jeivs  which  are  among  the  Gentiles  to  for- 
sake 3Ioses,  saying  that  they  ought  not  to  cir- 
cumcise their  children,  neither  to  walk  after 
the  customs.  What  is  it,  therefore  ?  The  multi- 
tudes must  needs  come  together,  for  they  will 
hear  that  thou  art  come.  Do  therefore  this 
that  we  say  to  thee :  We  have  four  men  which 
have  a  vow  on  them ;  them  take,  and  purify 
thyself  with  them,  and  be  at  charges  with  them, 
that  they  may  shave  their  heads :  and  all  may 
know,  that  those  things,  whereof  they  ivere  in- 
formed concerning  thee,  are  nothing ;  but  that 
thou  thyself  also  ivalkest  orderly,  and  keepest 
the  law.  *      As  touching  the   Gentiles  which 

*  In  Acts  xvi.   we  read  that  he  circumcised  Timothy, 
who  was  a  Jew  by  the  mother's  side,  sometime  after  he 


"WHY  I  AM  XOT  AX  EPISCOPALIAN.  49 

believe,  we  Lave  written  and  concluded  that 
they  observe  no  such  thing."  (o)  In  Acts  xv., 
we  find  that  some  Jewish  converts  taught  even 
the  Gentiles  that  they  should  be  circumcised ; 
and  this  occasioned  great  discussion,  and  caused 
the  consultation  of  the  Apostles.  Could  this 
difference  of  opinion  have  existed,  if  God  had 
taught  the  Apostles  that  baptism  was  in  the 
room  of  circumcision,  and  would  not  the  Coun- 
cil of  Apostles  have  said  so  ?  But  they  evidently 
were  of  a  different  opinion,  and  decided  that 

was  baptized.  He  would  not,  however,  allow  the  rite  to 
Titus,  who  was  a  Greek. — Galat.  ii.  3.  The  dissimulation 
of  Peter  and  Barnabas  and  other  Hebrews,  (Galat.  ii.  12, 
13,  14,  will  satisfy  any  one,  that  the  thought  of  baptism 
as  a  substitute  for  circumcision,  was  unheard  of  in  the 
Apostles'  days.  Peter  and  his  companions  lived  in  in- 
timacy with  the  baptized  Gentiles  for  some  time ;  but 
when  certain  Jewish  Christians  arrived,  they  withdrew 
and  "  separated  themselves,  fearing  them  which  were  of 
the  Circumcision."  This  was  unworthy  timidity  and  dupli- 
city, since  Peter  knew  that  in  the  Christian  Church  there 
was  no  difference  between  Gentile  and  Jew.  It  proves, 
however,  not  only  that  circumcision  was  still  practiced, 
but  so  highly  esteemed  by  Jewish  converts,  that  an  Apostle 
shrank  from  the  odium  to  which  he  had  exposed  himself, 
by  associating  on  a  footing  of  equality,  with  those  who 
had  not  this  mark,  although  they  were  baptized. 
(o)  Acts  xxi.  20-25. 


50  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

(while  the  Jewish  converts  ought  to  continue 
the  Abrahamic  rite)  it  was  not  required  of  the 
Gentiles.  Neander,  the  ablest  writer  of  Church 
History  who  ever  lived,  and  not  a  Baptist,  says  : 
"  How  could  he  (Paul,)  have  set  up  infant  bap- 
tism against  the  circumcision  that  continued  to 
be  practised  by  the  Jewish  Christians  ?  In  this 
case,  the  dispute  carried  on  with  the  Judaizing 
party,  on  the  necessity  of  circumcision,  would 
easily  have  given  an  opportunity  of  introduc- 
ing this  substitute  into  the  controversy,  if  it 
had  really  existed."  (p)  That  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  Paul  declares  the  Mosaic  cere- 
monials abolished,  has  nothing  to  do  with  this 
matter,  for  the  Mosaic  ritual  was  not  the  Abra- 
hamic covenant. 

2.  The  baptism  of  the  New  Testament  is 
immersion.  On  this  point,  the  learned  Bossuet, 
a  Roman  Catholic,  says :  "  John's  baptism 
was  performed  by  plunging.  In  fine,  we  read 
not  in  the  Scripture,  that  baptism  was  other- 
wise administered ;  and  we  are  able  to  make 
it  appear  by  the  acts  of  councils,  and  by 
the  ancient  rituals,  that  for  thirteen  hundred 

(p)  See  Plant,  of  Ch.  p.  102. — See  this  whole  masterly  ar- 
gument as  to  the  subjects  and  mode  of  baptism,  in  which 
his  learning  and  intellect  are  only  surpassed  by  his  candor. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  51 

years,  baptism  was  thus  administered  through* 
out  the  whole  Church  as  far  as  was  possible." 
The  truth  is,  the  word  means  "  immerse" 
and  nothing  else,  as  the  reader  will  see  by  con- 
sulting any  good  Lexicon.  That  it  is  some- 
times figuratively  used,  to  convey  the  idea  of 
steeping  in  an  abundance  of  any  element,  is 
admitted.  Such  instances  are  found  in  Greek 
poetry;  and  in  the  Bible,  Christians  are  said 
to  be  "  baptized  in  the  Holy  Ghost  "(q)  intimat- 
ing, in  strong  eastern  style,  their  being  wholly 
surrounded  and  imbued  with  his  influences. 
But  in  these  cases  the  very  force  of  the  meta- 
phor is  derived  from  this  that  the  proper  import 
of  the  phrase  is  immerse.  The  English  terms 
"plunge"  and  "dip"  are  employed  in  the 
same  way.  Thus  we  say  "Plunged  in  grief ';" 
Milton  says  (in  Comus) 

"  a  cold  shuddering  dew 


Dips  me  all  o'er." 

And  Shakspeare  says  (in  Hamlet) 

"What  would  he  do, 
Had  he  the  motive  and  the  cue  for  passion 
That  I  have?  He  would  drown  the  stage  with  tears." 

(q)  Such  is  the  original ;  in  every  case  the  Greek  is 
"baptize  in  water"  "in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  not  "with." 


52  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

All  feel,  however,  that,  in  examining  the  mean- 
ing of  a  law,  it  is  trifling  to  go  to  poets  and  their 
metaphors.  I  shall,  therefore,  not  argue  this 
matter,  but  simply  submit  to  the  reader,  whether 
he  can  have  any  sort  of  doubt  what  baptism  is, 
with  the  plain  declarations  of  God's  word  be- 
fore him  ?  Take  this  passage — "  Then  cometh 
Jesus  from  Galilee  to  Jordan,  unto  John,  to  be 
baptized  of  him.  But  John  forbade  him,  say- 
ing, I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  and 
comest  thou  to  me?  And  Jesus  answering, 
said  unto  him,  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now :  for  thus 
it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness.  Then 
he  suffered  him.  And  Jesus,  when  he  was  bap- 
tized went  up  straightway  out  of  the  water." {r) 
Take  this,  "And  as  they  went  on  their  way, 
they  came  unto  a  certain  water :  and  the  Eu- 
nuch said,  See,  here  is  water ;  what  doth  hinder 
me  to  be  baptized?  And  Philip  said;  If  thou 
believest  with  all  thine  heart,  thou  mayst.  And 
he  answered  and  said,  I  believe  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God.  And  he  commanded 
the  chariot  to  stand  still :  and  they  went  down 
both  into  the  water,  both  Philip  and  the  Eu- 
nuch ;  and  he  baptized  him.  And  when  they 
(r)  Matt.  iii.  13,  14,  15,  16. 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  53 

were  come  up  out  of  the  water,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  caught  away  Philip,  that  the  Eunuch  saw 
him  no  more :  and  he  went  on  his  way  rejoi- 
cing." (*)  Take  this,  "And  John  also  was 
baptizing  in  Enon,  near  to  Salim,  because  there 
was  much  water  there  ;"(t)  And  not  to  multi- 
ply passages,  take  this,  "Know  ye  not,  that  so 
many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ 
were  baptized  into  his  death  ?  Therefore  we 
are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death; 
that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead 
by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also 
should  walk  in  newness  of  life.  For  if  we  have 
been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  his 
death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his 
resurrection,  "(u)  Now,  I  enquire,  are  these 
passages  (translated,  too,  by  Episcopalians,) 
doubtful?  Every  respectable  commentator  con- 
fesses the  last  quotation  wholly  without  mean- 
ing, unless  the  word  signifies  immerse. 

Doddridge,  (Independent,)  "  '  Buried  with 
him  in  baptism.'  It  seems  the  part  of  candor 
to  confess,  that  here  is  an  allusion  to  the  man- 
ner of  baptizing  by  immersion." 

(*)  Acts  viii.  36,  37,  38,  39.  (t)  John  iii.  23.  («)  Rom. 
vi.  3,  4,  5. 


54  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

John  "Wesley,  (Methodist,)  " '  Buried  with 
him,'  alluding  to  the  ancient  manner  of  bap- 
tizing by  immersion." 

Whitby,  (Episcopalian,)  author  of  a  Com- 
mentary on  the  New  Testament,  and  more  than 
forty  other  learned  works.  "  It  being  so  ex- 
pressly declared  here,  Rom.  vi.  4,  and  Col.  ii. 
12,  that  we  are  buried  with  Christ  in  baptism, 
by  being  buried  under  water ;  and  the  argu- 
ment to  oblige  lis  to  a  conformity  to  his  death, 
by  dying  to  sin,  being  taken  hence ;  and  this 
immersion  being  religiously  observed  by  all 
Christians  for  thirteen  centuries,  and  approved 
by  our  Church,  and  the  change  of  it  into  sprink- 
ling, even  without  any  allowance  from  the  au- 
thor of  this  institution,  or  any  license  from  any 
council  of  the  Church,  being  that  which  the 
Romanist  still  urges  to  justify  his  refusal  of 
the  cup  to  the  laity ;  it  were  to  be  wished  that 
this  custom  might  be  again  of  general  use,  and 
aspersion  only  permitted,  as  of  old  in  case  of 
the  Clinici,  or  in  present  danger  of  death." 

Dr.  Chalmers,  on  this  text,  says,  "  The 
original  meaning  of  the  word  baptism  is  immer- 
sion, and  though  we  regard  it  as  a  point  of  in- 
diiferency,  whether  the  ordinance  so  named  be 


WHY  I  AM  NOT  AN  EPISCOPALIAN.  55 

performed  in  this  way  or  by  sprinkling,  yet  we 
doubt  not  that  the  prevalent  style  of  admin- 
istration in  the  Apostle's  days,  was  by  an  actual 
submerging  of  the  whole  body  under  water. "(v) 

Archbishop  Tillotson  :  "  Anciently  those  who 
were  baptized  were  immersed  and  buried  in 
water,  to  represent  their  death  to  sin ;  and 
then  did  rise  up  out  of  the  water,  to  signify 
their  entrance  upon  a  new  life."^) 

Indeed,  only  adopt  any  other  signification, 
say  'poured,'  and  how  will  it  read?  "Know 
ye  not  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  poured  into 
Jesus  Christ  were  poured  into  his  death? 
Therefore,  we  are  buried  with  him  by  pois- 
ing into  death!"  Or  let  us  try  "sprinkled." 
"  Know  ye  not  that  so  many  of  us  as  were 
sprinkled  into  Jesus  Christ,  were  sprinkled  in- 
to his  death  ?  Therefore  we  are  buried  with 
him  by  sprinkling  into  death  !"  It  is  certain, 
then,  this  verse  requires  immersion  ;  but  note, 
the  Apostle  here  declares  that  all  who  are  bap- 
tized  are  so  buried. 

3.    Lastly,  the  popular  form  of  government ; 
the  simplicity  of  worship ;   the  orders  of  Pres- 
byter (called  Pastor  or  Bishop  when   having 
(v)  Lect.  on  Rom.     (w)  Serm.  vii. 


56  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCHMAN. 

charge  of  a  Church,)  and  Deacon,  (an  officer 
having  supervision  of  the  temporal  concerns 
of  the  Church,)  I  find. in  that  body  to  which  I 
belong.  And,  while  I  love  many  who  differ 
from  me,  and  respect  most  devoutly  their  right 
of  private  judgment,  yet,  as  I  love  Christ  more, 
and  am  soon  to  answer  to  him,  I  dare  not 
throw  my  little  influence  in  favor  of  any  other 
Church,  and  in  opposition  to  that  which  I  be- 
lieve is  striving  to  preserve  in  all  things,  the 
doctrines  and  usages  embodied  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

These  remarks,  reader,  I  now  leave  with 
you,  praying  that  God  will  lead,  and  guide, 
and  bless  you  for  Jesus'  sake ;  and  entreating 
you  to  remember  the  admonitions,  "  Ye  are  my 
friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you."(#) 
"  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me  Lord, 
Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which 
is  in  Heaven."(y)  Jesus  Christ  "being  made 
perfect,  became  the  author  of  eternal  salvation 
unto  all  them  that  obey  him."  (z) 

(x)  John  xv.  14.     (y)  Matt.  vii.  21.     (z)  Heb.  v.  9. 
THE  END. 


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